


listen close, it's enough

by QuickSilverFox3



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Clone Trooper & Jedi Relationships (Star Wars), Clone Trooper Culture (Star Wars), Commander Cody Week 2021, Gen, M/M, Mutual Pining, Protective Clone Troopers (Star Wars), Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-24 05:20:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30067257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuickSilverFox3/pseuds/QuickSilverFox3
Summary: Cody picks up his General’s lightsaber without thinking, returning it in the same moment. But it means so much more than that.
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody & CT-7567 | Rex, CC-2224 | Cody/Obi-Wan Kenobi, CT-7567 | Rex & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 3
Kudos: 129





	listen close, it's enough

Obi-Wan’s face was pale beneath its coating of ash, but his grin was as sharp as a knife, triumphant and vicious. The clones were drawn to him like moths to a flame, their hands reaching out before they could stop themselves and trailing over the seared edges of his robes — faithfully retrieved by Click, whose face had yet to shift from an expression of mute awe. 

They were pressed so tightly together in the central command room of the ship that the slightest motion rolled through the clones like a wave, closer than any natborn should have been comfortable with. Cody glanced from Click — carefully ignoring the scrap of brown fabric dangling from the edge of his vambrace — to Obi-Wan. The man’s grin hadn’t lessened, merely shifted into something Cody didn’t quite have the name for.

It twisted through his ribs as Obi-Wan caught his eye, a blue as deep as the sea that ripped Cody’s breath from his chest and stretched out a hand towards him. Cody’s hand was steady as he reached across, stepping forward through the faint staccato beats of his brother’s hands against his armour, like a separate heartbeat.

“Well, Commander,” Obi-Wan laughed, reaching out to steady Cody as he stepped into the small circle of clear space next to the Jedi. His other hand rested just beneath Cody’s elbow, the touch featherlight and barely felt through his armour, but Cody knew it was there, warmth burning in his chest. “Do you have a report for me?”

Cody ducked his head to hide the grin bubbling up in his chest, relief flooding through him. They were still finding their footing, as Obi-Wan put it, in this fledgeling war, and the anxiety that wound through Cody’s veins in the quiet that followed every battle was like nothing that the trainers could have prepared him for.

“Yessir,” Cody replied, shifting back into attention and, just like that, the atmosphere in the room shifted. It would have been imperceptible to any casual observer, but Cody could see the slight thinning of Obi-Wan’s grin as it shrunk in on itself, tucked away behind careful professionalism, as the troopers slowly stumbled out of the room. 

They were still pressed together, a stumbling beast with many legs. Cody could make out the slight divisions in their movements as the pilots returned to their chairs, legs stretched out to rest on one another’s, or the painful gaps where a brother was under Helix’s care, a single solitary figure before they were tucked away into another group.

“How are we looking, gentlemen?”

Aspect tipped his head back rather than turn and dislodge Tykyrk’s legs from his lap, and — half-hidden between the console and the pile of discarded plastoid armour — Cody could barely make out the huddled form of Mux in the shadows. He ignored that, focusing instead on the paint on Aspect’s glove, the colours bleeding together like a sunset, as the clone tapped his temple as if he was activating a comm before speaking.

“All good, sir. Minimal damage to the ship, so we should be able to return to Coruscant in under one normal cycle.”

“Excellent, thank you. Keep us posted if that changes.”

Cody ignored the twist of unspeakable emotion in his chest at Obi-Wan’s easy use of us, and nodded to the pilots when their gazes, inevitably, drifted over to him for confirmation.

“Kandosii,” Cody murmured over the comm. His voice was barely louder than a whisper, mostly lost in the hiss of static, but from a thousand voices, he heard the reply, a triumphant hiss of ‘ _ Oya!’ _

“Shall we, Commander?”

It was easy to fall into step next to Kenobi. Ignoring the urge to reach out, to twine their fingers together or loop an arm around his hip — he knew the press of Kenobi’s weight following the mess of battle, tucked into a bolt hole, and that the man was bulkier than the robes made him seem — was infinitely more difficult. 

“I believe I still have some of the blend I got from Kashyyyk.” Obi-Wan’s grin had returned, a paler imitation of the expression from earlier, but one Cody was more accustomed to seeing. Cody nodded, filing the information away in the growing list in his head, already planning the trades he would need to make in the thriving black market between battalions to get his Jedi more variations. 

Obi-Wan Kenobi’s quarters were slightly larger than Cody’s room and sparse except for the ever-growing pile of datapads and paperwork that matched Cody’s own and the small tea set, carefully tucked away into an alcove next to the desk. The other man turned away, busying himself with the sealed packet, the contents rustling as the water began to bubble, letting Cody place his helmet on the free space Obi-Wan carefully maintained on the small desk and sit on the only chair. 

“Before I forget, Commander—” Cody straightened, fresh tension twisting down his spine at the strange note in Obi-Wan’s voice. “Thank you for retrieving my lightsaber.”

The blush that invaded his cheeks was immediate and intense, visible even on his darker cheeks in the distorted reflection of the metal table. “I’m sorry, sir, I—”

“Commander.  _ Cody _ . It’s fine.” Obi-Wan’s hand twitched as if he wanted to reach out but caught himself, a flicker of nerves crossing over his face. “I’m grateful for your help.”

Cody had been trying to not think about it, ignoring the consistent messages flickering across his comm from his vode who should have better things to do than tease him, a strange blend of support and reassurance in their words. 

“It’s said that a Jedi’s weapon is their life,” Obi-Wan chuckled, tracing the edge of one finger along the handle of his lightsaber. Cody had been trained to be adaptable, to pick up skills quickly and use them, so it only took a second of holding the lightsaber as he ran on the battlefield earlier to get its measure, igniting it for a second to hit a droid before pressing it back into his General’s hand. “It’s interesting to think about, as I noticed something similar with your armour?”

The words stuck in Cody’s throat for a moment, one hand rising to brush against the verebrace — the colour slightly mismatched against the other pieces of his armour, a pattern painted on the underside in a shaky childlike hand, a relic from before Rex had learned the technique. 

“Yessir, I guess it is.”

Cody supposed that was fitting, in a way, after a few more battles spent with his General. If a Jedi’s weapon was their life, then it made sense that General Kenobi, with his bleeding too-full heart, lost it so often as he threw himself into harm's way again and again and again.

But it was okay. After all, that was what he had Cody for.

⁂

“Really, Anakin?” Obi-Wan’s laugh echoed back to Cody and Rex as they moved through the cavernous corridors of the Jedi Temple. Their footsteps were muted, the sound previously mingling together until they were indistinguishable until the sound of Obi-Wan’s laughter made him pause, basking in it. 

Rex quirked his head to one side as he studied Cody, a gesture that had become indicative of the 501st Legion over the months. “You’ve got it bad, vode.”

“Shut up.”

Rex cackled, but his mocking salute was still precise and exact. 

“Ah, Commander! Captain!”

“Generals!” The pair returned the greeting, snapping into attention for a moment before relaxing at a nod.

“Anakin here was just filling me in on some of your adventures, Captain,” Obi-Wan laughed as Anakin ducked his head, his cheeks flushed like he was a freshly decanted shiny again. “I—”

Obi-Wan broke off, a look of wonder and confusion passing over his face like a cloud blown by the wind. Rex — smart man that he was and Cody could have kissed him for it — moved in an instant, stepping forward and steering Anakin away before the other man could even protest in a clearly well-practised move. 

Heat settled in Cody’s cheeks, his mouth drying as Obi-Wan stepped closer to him, barely any space left between them. This close, Cody could see the faint freckles that lingered across Obi-Wan’s cheeks like an unknown constellation and smell the smokiness from the tea, rather than the battlefield, that clung to him.

Obi-Wan’s hand trembled as he reached for the new lightsaber clip on Cody’s belt, custom-made and still warm from the installation, and it was that slight tremor that caused the burn inside Cody’s chest to increase, a realisation he had been ignoring for so long.

“Oh,” Obi-Wan whispered, more to himself than to Cody as he tugged on the clip, Cody letting the faint motion move him, swaying forward. Obi-Wan’s eyes were blown wide and dark, some emotion Cody didn’t dare put a name to brewing in them. “ _ Oh _ .”

“Is this okay?” Cody murmured, unwilling to break the moment rolling over them.

“More than okay.” Obi-Wan leaned forward, pressing his forehead to Cody’s in Keldabe. “You are a blessing I do not deserve.”

“You deserve to be looked after,” Cody shot back, torn between letting his eyes slip shut in reverent bliss and wanting to imprint this image of Obi-Wan onto his very soul. “I know you don’t believe me yet, but it’s true.”

Obi-Wan moved to take hold of Cody’s hands, breaking apart just enough to raise them to his lips and kissing the raised scar that twisted across his knuckles — a memento of one of the many times Cody had bled for his Jedi. “Thank you.”


End file.
